G.O.P. Leader In New York Steps Down After Decade

By JAMES C. McKINLEY Jr.

Published: February 27, 2001

Correction Appended

ALBANY, Feb. 26—
William D. Powers, the iron-willed political boss who transformed New York's debt-ridden and dispirited Republican Party into an effective political operation, stepped down today after 10 years as the chairman.

The leading candidate to replace Mr. Powers, Republican officials said, is Alexander F. Treadwell, the state's secretary of state and a former county Republican chairman, who is a close ally of Gov. George E. Pataki. Both Mr. Powers and Mr. Pataki support Mr. Treadwell, and county leaders are expected to choose him next week.

Though there have been reports of tension recently between the governor's office and the state party organization, friends of Mr. Powers said those disagreements had nothing to do with his decision to step down. They said Mr. Powers, who is 58, is tired of the demands of the job and wishes to spend more time with his wife, Judy, and his family. It was a voluntary decision, they said.

''Ten years is a long time to be doing that very stressful job,'' one former aide to Mr. Powers said.

Governor Pataki has steadfastly supported Mr. Powers in public, and he continued that support today, calling him ''the greatest Republican chairman in the history of New York State.''

''From my standpoint he could have been state chairman for life,'' Mr. Pataki said in Washington, where he was attending a conference of governors.

Still, Mr. Powers's departure and Mr. Treadwell's appointment leave the party firmly in the governor's control, a position he never fully enjoyed with Mr. Powers at the helm, aides to the governor said.

Mr. Powers was the top aide to Senator Alfonse D'Amato in 1990 when the Republicans suffered a humiliating defeat in the governor's race that left the party in shambles. The Republican candidate, Pierre Rinfret, collected only 22 percent of the vote and trailed not only Mario Cuomo, the Democratic incumbent, but also the Conservative Party candidate, Herbert London.

The next year, Mr. Powers became the chairman of a party with $1 million in debts and a grass-roots organization in disarray. As he stepped off the platform after being sworn in, he was served with court papers from a creditor, one aide recalled.

Mr. Powers, a former Marine sergeant, proved to be an extremely effective fund-raiser and organizer. He spent the first year of his tenure crisscrossing the state to raise not only money but also the morale of local leaders. The party also started winning pivotal races.

''We were at the abyss,'' said John Nolan, the Saratoga County Republican chairman. ''He just pulled us right up by our bootstraps.''

In 1992, Mr. Powers helped Senator D'Amato, who was considered vulnerable, eke out a narrow victory over Robert Abrams, the Democratic attorney general. The next year, he played a key role in helping Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani defeat the Mayor David N. Dinkins.

In 1994, Mr. Powers crowned those achievements. With his help, Mr. Pataki, then a little-known state senator, beat Mr. Cuomo, a liberal icon. In the same election, Dennis Vacco won the race for state attorney general.

That winning streak came to an end in 1998, however, as Mr. D'Amato and Mr. Vacco were both defeated. Then last fall, the Republicans suffered another blow when Hillary Rodham Clinton easily defeated Rick Lazio in the Senate race.

Mr. Powers came under fire for mounting a telephone campaign in which Republican workers tried to link Mrs. Clinton to Muslim terrorists and to the bomb attack on the destroyer Cole. Even Mr. Lazio later repudiated that tactic.

Mr. Lazio's loss and the criticism he took afterward left Mr. Powers crestfallen, his friends said, but they said that was not the main reason he decided to step down. Some people close to Mr. Powers said an unspecified health problem also played a role in his decision to step down, but others said health was not a factor.

In a statement, Mr. Powers said only that he was proud of the organization he had created and was leaving the party in much better shape than he found it.

Mr. Treadwell, a former reporter for Sports Illustrated, was one of the first county chairman to support Mr. Pataki in 1994. He has served as the secretary of state from the first day the governor took office. He is an independently wealthy man who has given about $100,000 to state Republican committees since 1995.

Born in England in 1946, Mr. Treadwell grew up in New York State. He is the author of ''The World of Marathons'' (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1987), a book about 26 epic races. He lives in Westport, a small town on Lake Champlain, in the Adirondacks. Mr. Treadwell, who goes by the nickname ''Sandy,'' became the vice chairman of the Republican state committee in 1989.

Republican elected officials were quick to praise Mr. Powers today and to wish Mr. Treadwell well as the new party chairman. Senator Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority keader, called him ''the finest state party chairman ever.'' Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani said Mr. Powers has ''one of the very, very best political minds in the state.''

Correction: February 28, 2001, Wednesday An article yesterday about the resignation of William D. Powers as chairman of the New York State Republican Party misstated the performance of the party's candidate for governor, Pierre A. Rinfret, in 1990. He came in second, after the Democratic incumbent, Mario M. Cuomo; Mr. Rinfret did not also trail Herbert London, the Conservative Party candidate.